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of  ILLINOIS. 

Disarmament  of  Nations 

OR, 

Mankind  One  f^dy 


BY 

GEORGE  DANA  BOARDMAN,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

1  '  f  ; 


s\  Is 


AV 


FOURTH  EDITION 


Philadelphia:  921  Arch  St. 
HOWARD  M.  JENKINS 


' 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


^ppIE  substance  of  this  pamphlet,  particularly  its  pro¬ 
posal  of  Disarmament,  was  originally  given  in  a 
public  address  delivered  in  Washington  City  on  March 
4,  1890,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  audience,  including 
the  then  Secretary  of  State,  several  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  many  members  of  Congress,  many  foreign 
ambassadors,  etc.,  Mr.  Justice  Harlan,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  presiding.  It  was  substan¬ 
tially  repeated  before  the  Peace  Congress  at  the 
World’s  Fair  in  Chicago,  August  18,  1893.  The 
original  pamphlet  has  long  been  out  of  print.  In  view 
of  recent  public  events,  such  as  the  American-Spanish 
war,  the  Czar’s  invitation  to  an  international  conference 
to  consider  the  problem  of  Disarmament,  etc.,  the 
writer  deems  it  advisable  to  comply  with  the  request 
of  many  friends  to  issue  a  fourth  edition,  enlarged  and 
revised. 

Of  course  the  writer  might  have  discussed  this 
Problem  of  Disarmament  from  other  points  of  view, 
such  as  the  commercial,  the  economical,  the  legal,  etc. 
But  he  confines  himself,  at  least  in  this  brochure,  to 
what  he  deems  the  fundamental  point  in  this  discus¬ 
sion,  namely,  the  point  of  Christian  Ethics. 

May  the  Prince  of  Peace  bless  this  brochure  to  the 
unification  of  Mankind  !  G.  D.  B. 

Philadelphia,  April  15,  1899. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/disarmamentofnatOOboar 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


OR 

MANKIND  ONE  BODY 


THE  various  theories  of  Society  may,  substantially 
speaking,  be  reduced  to  two — the  constructional 
or  legislative,  and  the  natural  or  biological. 

LEGISLATIVE  THEORY  OF  SOCIETY. 

And  first,  the  constructional  or  legislative  theory 
of  Society.  According  to  this  theory,  Society  is  not 
a  divine  organism — it  is  only  a  human  organization. 
That  is  to  say — Society  is  but  a  human  contrivance  ; 
a  conventional  arrangement ;  a  voluntary  association 
which  men  may  join  or  change  or  leave  just  as  they 
please.  No  wonder  then  that  those  who  hold  this 
view  should  think  that  they  can  regulate  Society  by 
methods  that  are  mainly  external  or  constructional  ; 
such  as  organizing  leagues,  passing  resolutions,  cast¬ 
ing  ballots,  enacting  statutes,  and  the  like — methods 
all  well  enough  in  their  place  ;  but  after  all,  mechani¬ 
cal,  undertaking  to  work  out  the  problems  of  Society 
from  without  rather  than  from  within  ;  and  therefore 
working  superficially  rather  than  radically.  In  other 
words,  this  method  of*  managing  Society  is  as  thor¬ 
oughly  artificial  as  when  a  florist  lays  out  a  garden, 
or  a  machinist  constructs  an  engine.  No;  legislation 
is  neither  the  base  nor  the  law  nor  the  cure  of  Society. 
We  must  look  more  deeply,  and  therefore  more 
wisely. 

BIOLOGICAL  THEORY  OF  SOCIETY. 

The  other  theory  of  Society  is  the  natural  or 
biological.  According  to  this  theory,  Society  is 


6 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


more  than  a  human  organization — it  is  a  divine  or¬ 
ganism,  into  which,  ideally  speaking,  every  human 
being  is  born,  from  which  no  human  being  can  escape, 
the  nature  of  which  no  human  being  can  change,  to 
the  essential  terms  of  which  every  human  being  is 
morally  bound  to  conform.  In  other  words,  Society 
is  not  an  outward  law  ;  Society  is  an  inward  life.  In 
summary :  the  difference  between  these  two  theories 
of  Society  is  the  difference  between  a  lifeless  manikin 
and  a  living  body. 

ANCIENT  BIOLOGICAL  ANALOGIES. 

Now  this  biological  theory  that  Society  is  a 
natural,  living,  divine  organism  is  by  no  means  novel. 
For  example :  When  in  the  days  of  legendary  Rome 
the  plebeians  in  their  first  great  rupture  with  the 
patricians  angrily  withdrew  to  Mons  Sacer,  the  ven¬ 
erable  and  patriotic  Menenius  Agrippa,  himself  a 
worthy  patrician,  effected  at  least  a  temporary  recon¬ 
ciliation  by  his  humorous  apologue  of  the  Belly  and 
the  Members,  as  follows  : 

“THE  BELLY  AND  THE  MEMBERS.” 

In  olden  times,  when  every  member  of  the  body  could 
think  for  itself,  and  each  had  a  separate  will  of  its  own,  they 
all  with  one  consent  resolved  to  revolt  against  the  belly. 
They  knew  no  reason,  they  said,  why  they  should  toil  from 
morning  to  night  in  its  service,  while  the  belly  lay  at  its  ease 
in  the  midst  of  all,  and  indolently  grew  fat  upon  their  labors. 
Accordingly  they  agreed  to  support  it  no  longer  ;  the  feet 
vowed  they  would  carry  it  no  more  ;  the  hands,  that  they 
would  do  jio  more  work  ;  the  teeth,  that  they  would  not  chew 
another  morsel  of  meat  even  were  it  placed  between  them. 
Thus  resolved,  the  members  for  a  time  showed  their  spirit 
and  kept  their  resolution.  But  they  soon  found  that  instead 
of  mortifying  the  belly,  they  only  reduced  themselves  to  the 
last  degree  of  emaciation. — Livy ,  II.,  32.  [Shakespeare  has 
admirably  managed  this  fable  in  his  tragedy  of  ‘  ‘Coriolanus.  ”] 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


7 

More  than  five  hundred  years  afterward,  another 
Roman  citizen,  trying  to  reconcile  factions  which 
were  rending  a  certain  community  in  Corinth,  and 
perhaps  remembering  the  apologue  of  old  Menenius, 
wrote  them  as  follows  : 

ANALOGON  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY. 

As  the  body  is  one,  and  has  many  members,  and  all  the 
members  of  the  body,  being  many,  are  one  body  ;  so  also  is 
the  Christ.  For  in  one  spirit  we  were  all  baptized  into  one 
body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond  or  free  ;  and 
were  all  made  to  drink  of  one  Spirit.  For  the  body  also  is 
not  one  member,  but  many.  If  the  foot  say,  Because  I  am 
not  a  hand,  I  am  not  of  the  body  ;  it  is  not  therefore  not  of 
the  body.  And  if  the  ear  say,  Because  I  am  not  an  eye,  I 
am  not  of  the  body  ;  it  is  not  therefore  not  of  the  body.  If 
the  whole  body  were  an  eye,  where  were  the  hearing  ?  If 
the  whole  were  hearing,  where  were  the  smelling  ?  But  as  it 

is,  God  has  set  the  members  each  one  of  them  in  the  body, 
even  as  he  wished.  And  if  they  were  all  one  member,  where 
were  the  body  ?  But  now  there  are  many  members,  but  one 
body.  And  the  eye  cannot  say  to  the  hand,  I  have  no  need 
of  thee  :  nor  again  the  head  to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need  of 
you.  Nay,  much  more  the  members  of  the  body  which 
seem  to  be  more  feeble  are  necessary  :  and  those  parts  of 
the  body  which  we  think  to  be  less  honorable,  on  these  we 
bestow  more  abundant  honor  ;  and  our  uncomely  parts  have 
more  abundant  comeliness  ;  but  our  comely  parts  have  no 
need.  But  God  tempered  (adjusted,  organized,)  the  body 
together,  giving  more  abundant  honor  to  that  part  which 
lacked,  that  there  might  be  no  division  in  the  body,  but  that 
the  members  might  have  the  same  care  one  for  another. 
And  whether  one  member  suffers,  all  the  members  suffer  with 
it  ;  or  one  member  is  honored,  all  the  members  rejoice  with 

it.  Now  ye  are  Christ’s  body,  and  severally  members  of  it 
(members  each  in  his  part). — /.  Cor. ,  XII. ,  12-27. 

THE  BODY  AN  ANALOGON  OF  MANKIND. 

But  while  the  Roman  Menenius  applied  his 
analogon  of  the  body  specifically  to  the  Roman  State, 
and  the  Christian  Paul  specifically  to  the  Christian 


8 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


Church,  I  think  we  are  justified  in  enlarging  the  same 
analogon  and  applying  it  to  that  auguster  organism 
which  we  call  Mankind.  Indeed,  I  have  such  su¬ 
preme  confidence  in  the  all-conquering  power  of  the 
Nazarene  that  I  feel  absolutely  sure  that  the  day  is 
coming  when  the  terms  “  Man  ”  and  “  Church”  will 
become  actually  synonymous  ;  so  that  we  may  in 
strictest  truth  speak  of  the  “  Church  of  Mankind.” 
In  truth,  is  not  this  the  goal  of  Christianity  itself? 
Thus  surveyed,  Christianized  Mankind  is  the  culmi¬ 
nating  sample,  the  realized  ideal,  of  St.  Paul’s 
“  Body.”  For  it  is  only  when  we  conceive  mankind 
as  one  colossal  ideal  body,  having  all  its  organs  in 
coordination  and  all  its  functions  in  reciprocal  action 
that  we  can  truly  grasp  this  mighty  word — mankind. 
It  is  a  sublime  conception,  which  shall  yet  by  God’s 
grace  dominate  humanity. 

DISTINGUISH  ANALOGUE  AND  HOMOLOGUE. 

But  before  proceeding  to  details  it  is  well  to  make 
an  explanation.  This  classic  analogon  of  the  human 
body  is  not  of  course  to  be  taken  literally,  as  though 
mankind  were  really  a  bodily  organism  having  bodily 
organs.  Yet  this  is  the  impression  which  our  analo¬ 
gon  leaves  on  many  minds.  For  instance,  I  have  a 
bright  clerical  friend  for  whose  judgment  in  most 
things  I  have  a  profound  respect ;  but  he  seems  to 
lack  what  I  may  call  the  analogical  imagination. 
For  in  a  conversation  which  I  once  had  with  him  on 
the  great  subject  of  Sociology,  during  which  I  par¬ 
ticularly  pressed  on  him  this  analogy  of  the  bodily 
organism,  he  objected  with  the  utmost  sincerity,  say¬ 
ing  that  he  could  not  imagine  how  society  could  be 
such  an  organism  ;  for  it  would  require,  he  thought, 
a  gigantic  body,  weighing  thousands  of  tons,  with 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


9 


arms  and  legs  leagues  long,  a  nose  a  mile  or  more 
in  length,  and  so  on.  What  my  friend  lacks  is  the 
analogical  or  functional  imagination  ;  that  is,  the  im¬ 
agination  which  enables  us  to  see  in  the  psychical 
world  the  functional  workings  of  psychical  organs 
which  have  no  correspondent  physical  organs  in  the 
physical  world.  For  example — it  is  not  absolutely 
necessary  that  we  should  have  bodily  eyes  in  order 
to  see,  or  bodily  ears  in  order  to  hear  ;  the  blind 
man  sees  with  his  fingers  when  he  traces  his  em¬ 
bossed  type ;  the  deaf  man  hears  with  his  eyes  when 
he  watches  his  friend  talking  in  sign-manual.  Or  to 
illustrate  by  terms  drawn  from  biology  :  When  two 
organs  resemble  each  other,  not  in  function,  but  in 
structure,  as  the  arm  of  a  man  and  the  pectoral  fin  of 
a  fish — these  organs  are  said  to  be  homologues.  On 
the  other  hand,  when  two  organs  resemble  each 
other,  not  in  structure  but  in  function,  as  the  wing  of 
an  eagle  and  the  so-called  “wing”  of  a  bat — these 
organs  are  said  to  be  analogues.  Now  the  resem¬ 
blance  between  the  human  body  and  the  social  body 
is  not  a  homologue  or  similarity  in  anatomical  struc¬ 
ture  :  it  is  an  analogue  or  similarity  in  biological 
function.1 

So  it  is  with  St.  Paul’s  classic  analogon  of  the 
human  body ;  it  is  not,  I  repeat,  an  anatomical 
homologue,  to  be  taken  structurally ;  but  it  is  an 
ideal  analogue,  to  be  taken  functionally.  Accord¬ 
ingly,  his  language  is  not  to  be  taken  literally  or 


1  Here  is  one  of  the  troubles  with  Schaffle’s  masterly  work  entitled,  “  Structure 
and  Life  of  the  Social  Body.”  Holding  to  the  biologic  concept  of  Society,  he 
presses  his  biological  analogies  too  literally  and  minutely ;  as  for  instance,  when 
he  insists  that  biology  and  sociology  are  not  only  similar  but  even  identical ;  or 
when  he  likens  the  cells  to  individuals,  the  capillaries  to  families,  the  tissues  to 
national  relationships,  the  muscles  to  business  life,  the  epidermis  to  protective  in¬ 
stitutions,  the  nervous  organs  to  intellectual  life,  etc.  But  though  the  temptation  is 
strong  to  press  these  biologic  analogies  too  fancifully  (and  fanciful  is  often  but  a 
synonym  for  prosaic),  yet  it  is  perfectly  proper,  within  due  limits,  to  use  such 
biologic  terms  as  “social  anatomy;  social  physiology;  social  pathology;  social 
therapeutics,”  etc. 


IO  DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 

sound-wise,  but  ideally  or  hint-wise.  In  other  words, 
his  analogon  is  ideally  true.  And  ideas  are  often  the 
truest  of  truths.  Let  not  our  familiarity  with  this 
analogy  deaden  our  sense  of  its  varied  and  profound 
significance.  And  now  we  are  prepared  for  some  of 
the  rich  lessons  which  this  great  analogon  of  the 
bodily  organism  suggests. 

AN  OUTLINE  STATEMENT. 

Let  me  first  make  a  general  statement.  What  our 
Apostle’s  analogon  suggests  is  in  main  outline  this : 
The  relation  between  men  and  men  as  being  fellow - 
members  of  the  one  great  body  of  mankind  is  a  functional 
relation  as  real,  vital ,  reciprocal,  organic ,  as  the  relation 
between  the  fellow-members  of  the  human  body.  That 
is  to  say,  As  the  human  body  is  a  single  organism,  con¬ 
sisting  of  many  different  organs  and  functions,  balanced 
in  common  counterpoise,  and  working  in  mutual  inter¬ 
action  ;  so  mankind  is  a  single  moral  organism,  con¬ 
sisting  in  like  manner  of  many  diversities,  balanced  in 
similar  counterpoise,  and  working  in  similar  inter¬ 
action.  It  is  Christianity’s  positive,  majestic  contribu¬ 
tion  to  Sociology,  or  the  Philosophy  of  Society. 

THE  BODY  THE  TRUEST  ANALOGON  OF  MANKIND. 

Thus  the  human  body  is  a  profound  and  telling 
symbol,  or  rather  suggestive  functional  analogue  of 
that  majestic  ideal  organism  which  we  call  the  Social 
Body  or  Corporate  Mankind.  How  significantly  we 
hint  all  this  when  we  use  such  familiar  expressions 
as  “  body  politic,”  “corps  legislatiff  “  ecclesiastical 
body,”  “taking  the  sense  of  the  body,”  “esprit  de 
corps f  etc.  We  shall  never  rise  to  a  higher  or  truer 
conception  of  human  society  or  mankind  than  under 
this  biologic  analogue  of  the  bodily  organism.  We 
outlive  human  theories  ;  we  shall  never  outlive  divine 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


I 


biology.  And  now  let  us  attend  to  some  applications 
of  this  biological  analogon  to  international  life. 

“  BODY  ”  IMPLIES  DIVERSE  “  MEMBERS.” 

On  the  one  hand,  the  term  “  body”  itself  implies 
“  members.”  And  “  members  ”  imply  diversity,  and 
diversity  implies  specific  functions.  Accordingly,  in 
the  one  great  body  of  mankind,  the  individuality  of 
the  component  nations  is  preserved.  For  each 
nation — oh,  that  all  the  nations  understood  it ! — is 
charged  with  its  own  divine  mission.  Surveyed  in  this 
light,  each  nation,  at  least  while  we  are  surveying  it, 
is  as  it  were  a  single  person.  Recall  how  Jehovah, — 
the  Covenant-God  of  the  Hebrew  people, — in  pro¬ 
claiming  his  Ten  Commandments,  addressed  the 
millions  of  Israel  as  a  single  personality  or  one  cor¬ 
porate  unity,  saying  : 

I  am  Jehovah,  thy  God,  who  brought  thee  out  of  the  land 
of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage  ( Exodus ,  xx.,  2). 

and  continuing  to  use  the  singular  pronouns  “  thou,” 
“thee,”  “thy,”  throughout  the  whole  decalogue. 
The  Jews  surveyed  as  individuals  were  many 
Israelites  ;  the  Jews  surveyed  as  a  nation  of  individuals 
were  one  Israel.  In  like  manner,  every  other  nation 
worthy  of  the  name  of  nation  is  also  a  person,  having 
at  least  some  of  the  attributes  of  personality  ;  that  is, 
each  nation  has  its  own  peculiarities  or  natural 
idiosyncracies.  Recall,  for  example,  Hebrew  devout¬ 
ness  ;  Babylonian  constructiveness  ;  Egyptian  serious¬ 
ness  ;  Greek  culture  ;  Roman  jurisprudence ;  Indian 
(Asiatic)  mysticism  ;  Gothic  impetuosity ;  Scandi¬ 
navian  valor ;  Chinese  conservatism  ;  Japanese  flexi¬ 
bility  ;  African  docility  ;  Indian  (American)  nomadism  ; 
Spanish  pride  ;  Italian  aestheticism  ;  Russian  persist¬ 
ence  ;  Swiss  federalism  ;  French  savoir  faire ;  German 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


I  2 

philosophism  ;  English  indomitableness ;  Scotch 
shrewdness  ;  Irish  humor ;  Welsh  eloquence  ;  Cana¬ 
dian  thrift ;  American  versatility  ;  etc.  Each  nation 
has  its  own  role  definitely  assigned  it  in  the  great 
drama  of  mankind.  What  an  insight  into  the  philoso¬ 
phy  of  history  is  given  us  by  the  great  missionary 
Paul  when  addressing  the  proud  autochthones  of  the 
Areopagus,  he  announced  : 

God  made  of  one  every  nation  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth,  having  fixed  appointed  periods  and  the 
bounds  of  their  habitation. — Acts ,  xvii. ,  26. 

DIVERSE  “  MEMBERS  ”  IMPLY  A  COMMON  “  BODY.” 

On  the  other  hand,  the  term  diverse  “  members  ” 
itself  implies  one  common  “body.”  If  all  the  mem¬ 
bers  were  one  member,  where  were  the  body  ?  But 
now  there  are  many  members,  each  having  its  own 
office  ;  yet  there  is  but  one  body,  and  all  are  severally 
members  one  of  another.  Accordingly,  while  it  is 
true  that  each  nation  has  its  own  individual  mission, 
it  is  also  true  that  all  the  nations  constitute  one 
common  Nation,  namely,  the  one  august  body  of 
Mankind,  the  one  sublime  corporation  of  Humankind  ; 
whereof  each  nation  is,  so  to  speak,  a  component 
member,  and  each  individual  a  specific  organ,  having 
its  own  definite  function  to  discharge  in  the  one 
organism  of  Mankind.  In  other  words,  each  nation 
in  simple  virtue  of  its  own  existence  as  a  nation  is  also 
strictly  international,  being  a  corporate  member  of 
the  one  divinely  incorporated  Society  of  Mankind  ;  so 
that  its  relation  to  its  fellow-nations  is  a  relation,  not 
of  hostile  competition,  but  of  integrant  cooperation. 
In  still  other  words,  the  relation  of  nationalism  to 
internationalism  is  the  relation  of  the  members  and 
functions  to  the  body.  What  could  the  thumb  do  if 
it  were  not  in  the  body?  “ Unus  vir  nullus  vir .” 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


13 


Even  Socrates  caught  a  glimpse  of  this  noble  truth 
when  he  said  he  was  “  not  an  Athenian  or  a  Greek, 
but  a  citizen  of  the  world,”  a  sentiment  which  Terence 
echoed  when  he  declared,  “  I  am  a  man  ;  and  nothing 
that  concerns  a  man  do  I  deem  alien  to  me  ”  ;  and 
which  William  Lloyd  Garrison  re-echoed  when  he 
announced  as  the  motto  of  his  “  Liberator,”  “  Our 
country  is  the  world ;  our  countrymen  are  all  man¬ 
kind.”  Precisely  here  is  one  of  the  rich  providential 
meanings  of  that  sublime  event  in  the  history  of 
Mankind  which  our  Columbian  Exposition  com¬ 
memorated — the  Discovery  of  America.  For  it  is  the 
rare  felicity  of  America,  in  virtue  of  her  geographical 
isolation,  being  laved  on  both  coasts  by  mighty 
oceans,  and  also  in  virtue  of  her  political  isolation, 
being  free  from  what  Jefferson  called  “  entangling 
alliances  with  foreign  nations,”  that  she  occupies  the 
vantage  ground  of  being  to  large  extent  the  neutral 
territory  of  the  nations,  and  therefore  of  being  the 
natural  mediator  for  the  peoples  ;  being,  so  to  speak, 
the  median  line  or  spinal  column  of  the  body  of  Man¬ 
kind.  It  is  the  majestic  possibility  of  America  that, 
looking  toward  the  Northern  Aurora,  she  can,  as  it 
were,  stretch  her  right  hand  across  the  Atlantic,  and 
her  left  hand  across  the  Pacific,  and  speak  peace  to 
the  trans-oceanic  races ;  or,  as  George  Canning  in  his 
“  King’s  Message  ”  says  :  “  I  called  the  New  World 
into  existence  to  redress  the  balance  of  the  Old.” 
But  America  can  never  realize  this  magnificent  pre¬ 
rogative  until  she  distinctly  conceives  herself  as  being 
not  only  national,  but  also  international  ;  not  only  as 
one  great  nation  among  other  great  nations,  but  also 
as  a  corporate,  organic  member  of  a  still  vaster 
Nation — even  the  body  politic  of  Humanity,  the  one 
corporation  of  Mankind.  Now  the  discovery  of 
America,  by  opening  the  two  great  oceans  of  Atlantic 


14 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


and  Pacific  for  common  transit  and  intercourse  and 
property,  made  the  two  hemispheres  complemental, 
rounding  the  angles  of  the  nations  into  the  one  globe 
of  Mankind  ;  thus  helping  to  realize  the  Pauline  con¬ 
ception  of  the  old  twain  becoming  the  one  new  man 
in  Christ.  In  fine,  we  shall  never  get  beyond  or 
above  St.  Paul’s  basal  biological  concept  of  the  ideal 
Society,  to  wit,  this,  “We  are  members  one  of 
another.” 

WAR  IS  NATIONAL  SELF-MAIMING. 

And  now  let  me  apply  this  sublime  idea  of  inter¬ 
national  life  or  corporate  mankind  to  that  frequent 
and  sad  violation  of  it,  namely,  war.  For  from  what 
I  have  said  concerning  the  bodily  organism  as  the 
divine  ideal  of  the  one  organic,  corporate  mankind  it 
follows  that  all  war  is  not  only  international  wound¬ 
ing,  but  also  national  self-maiming.  Indeed,  it  is  just 
because  we  persist  in  conceiving  society  as  a 
mechanical  organization,  like  Hobbe’s  “  Leviathan,” 
rather  than  as  a  natural  organism,  like  the  human 
body,  that  we  also  persist  in  resorting  to  mechanical 
methods  like  war  rather  than  to  natural  methods  like 
peace  for  settling  human  quarrels.  In  fact,  war  is  the 
culminating  sample  of  what  St.  Paul  calls  “  a  schism 
in  the  body  ”  ;  that  is,  a  rending  asunder  of  human 
society,  a  dismemberment  of  mankind. 

PAST  WARS  SOMETIMES  RELATIVELY  RIGHT. 

I  would  speak  advisedly  and  justly.  Devoutly 
believing  as  I  do  the  Bible,  I  must  admit  that  in  the 
inscrutable  counsels  of  the  Eternal  even  war  has  had 
its  divine  office ;  as,  for  example,  when  Jehovah  used 
it  as  his  minister  of  doom  against  the  Canaanites.  For 
aught  I  know,  even  heathen  Attila  himself  was  rightly 
named  the  “Scourge  of  God.”  No  doubt  there  is  a 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS  I  5 

sense  in  which  it  is  true  that  the  instinct  of  self-defense 
is  divinely  implanted.  But  self-defense,  at  least 
physical,  is  not  one  of  the  ordinary  conditions  of 
society  ;  it  is  an  exceptional  emergency  ;  and  it  is 
manifestly  absurd  to  deduce  a  principle  from  an  ex¬ 
ception.  I  do  not  like  to  make  absolute  promises  : 
for  I  am  finite  and  fallible,  and  may  see  just  occasion 
for  changing  my  mind.  But  as  I  feel  to-day,  following 
the  banner  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  I  do  not  think  that 
I  can  ever  defend  another  war.  No  man  can  go  be¬ 
yond  me  in  my  profound  admiration  and  reverence 
for  the  patriotism,  the  courage,  the  self-sacrifice,  of 
the  thousands — I  might  almost  say  millions — who  so 
sublimely  braved  every  hardship  and  peril  in  defense 
of  my  glorious  country.  All  honor  to  the  illustrious 
dead  !  All  honor  to  their  illustrious  survivors  !  God 
grant  that  their  heroic  sacrifices  may  indeed  prove  the 
indissoluble  bond  of  reunited  “  Liberty  and  Union, 
now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable  !  ” 

god’s  government  progressive. 

Nevertheless,  we  are  living  under  the  government 
of  Almighty  God.  One  of  the  fundamental  princi¬ 
ples  of  that  divine  government  is  progress.  Accord¬ 
ingly,  what  may  have  been  relatively  right  in  the  past 
may  become  absolutely  wrong  in  the  future.  For  we 
must  distinguish  between  absolute  truth,  or  truth  as 
it  exists  unconditionally  in  the  infinite  mind ;  and 
relative  truth,  or  truth  as  it  appears  to  our  finite 
minds,  now  under  this  set  of  conditions,  now  under 
that  set.  In  other  words,  God  in  revealing  himself  to 
men  has  been  pleased  to  use  the  law  of  adaptation  ;  or, 
as  the  philosophers  say,  “the  lav/  of  economy  of 
action.”  For  example,  Christ  in  his  doctrine  of 
divorce  admitted  that  Moses  allowed  his  countrymen 
a  bill  of  divorcement  for  other  causes  than  the  one 


1 6  DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 

cause  which  Christ  himself  specifies  ;  but  he  imme¬ 
diately  adds  that  Moses  allowed  divorcement  because 
of  his  countrymen’s  “  hardness  of  heart”;  that  is, 
because  of  that  moral  obtuseness  into  which  they 
sank  as  one  of  the  sad  results  of  their  long  servitude 
in  polygamous  Egypt ;  but  it  was  not  so  in  the 
beginning ;  in  Eden’s  primal  estate  no  provision  was 
made  for  divorce. 

Moses  for  your  hardness  of  heart,  permitted  you  to  put 
away  your  wives  ;  but  from  the  beginning  it  has  not  been  so. 
— Matthew ,  xix. ,  8. 

And  as  it  was  with  divorce,  so  it  was  with  poly¬ 
gamy,  slavery,  retaliation,  war.  In  the  generations 
past,  God  suffered  all  the  nations  to  walk  in  their  own 
ways  ;  those  being  times  of  ignorance  which  he  over¬ 
looked  ;  in  his  forbearance  passing  over  the  sins 
formerly  committed. 

FUTURE  WARS  ABSOLUTELY  WRONG. 

But  now  the  times  of  knowledge  have  come. 
God,  having  of  old  spoken  to  the  fathers  in  the 
prophets,  in  these  last  days  speaks  to  us  in  his  Son. 
That  Son  commands  us,  not  from  the  wrathful  heights 
of  Sinai,  but  from  the  peaceful  heights  of  Calvary. 
Moses  said : 

Thou  shalt  give  life  for  life,  eye  for  eye,  tooth  for  tooth, 
hand  for  hand,  foot  for  foot,  burning  for  burning,  wound  for 
wound,  stripe  for  stripe. — Exodus ,  xxi.t  23-25. 

But  Jesus  said  : 

Blessed  are  the  peacemakers  :  for  they  shall  be  called 
sons  of  God.  Resist  not  the  evil  man  :  but  whoever  smites 
thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also.  Love 
your  enemies,  and  pray  for  those  who  persecute  you  ;  that  ye 
may  be  sons  of  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  :  for  he  causes 
his  sun  to  rise  on  evil  men  and  good,  and  sends  rain  on 
righteous  and  unrighteous.  Return  thy  sword  into  its  place  : 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


17 


for  all  they  who  take  the  sword  will  perish  by  the  sword.  My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  :  if  my  kingdom  were  of  this 
world,  my  servants  would  fight,  that  I  might  not  be  delivered 
to  the  Jews  ;  but  now  is  my  kingdom  not  from  thence.  If  it 
be  possible,  as  far  as  depends  on  you,  be  at  peace  with  all 
men.  Avenge  not  yourselves,  beloved,  but  give  place  to  the 
wrath  (of  God)  :  for  it  is  written  (Deut.  xxxii.,  35),  To  me 
belongs  vengeance  ;  I  will  recompense,  says  the  Lord.  But, 
if  thine  enemy  hungers,  feed  him  ;  if  he  thirsts,  give  him 
drink.  For,  in  doing  this,  thou  wilt  heap  coals  of  fire  on  his 
head.  Be  not  overcome  by  evil,  but  overcome  evil  with 
good. — Matt,  v.,  9,  39,  43,  44,  45  ;  xxvi.,  52  ;  John  xviii., 
36  ;  Rom.  xii.,  18-21  ;  II.  Cor.  x.,  3,  4  ;  etc. 

Thus  the  whole  New  Testament,  not  only  in  its 
trend  but  also  in  its  details,  is  distinctly  and  emphat¬ 
ically  against  all  war.  Study  it  from  Matthew  to 
Revelation ;  I  do  not  think  you  can  cite  from  it  a 
solitary  statement  that  even  hints  that  Jesus  Christ  or 
his  apostles  ever  approved  of  physical  war.  No,  the 
Son  of  Man  came  not  to  destroy  men’s  lives  but  to 
save  them.  The  only  way  in  which  you  can  defend 
war  from  the  Bible  is  by  quoting  from  an  expurgated 
edition  ;  striking  out  the  whole  New  Testnment  or 
ministration  of  life,  leaving  only  the  Old  Testament 
or  ministration  of  death.  Thank  God,  the  New 
Covenant  is  gaining  on  the  old  ;  Moses  is  giving  way 
to  Jesus.  Even  within  the  comparatively  short  time 
since  our  own  desolating  civil  strife  ceased,  the  con¬ 
ceptions  of  men  concerning  mankind  have  wonder¬ 
fully  cleared  and  broadened ;  the  great  problem  of 
Sociology  itself  has  come  conspicuously  to  the  very 
front  of  human  thinking.  In  fact,  this  great  problem 
is  no  longer  a  local  problem  concerning  societies  or 
men ;  it  is  henceforth  a  universal  problem  concerning 
Society  or  Man.  Thinkers  begin  to  see  that  war  of 
whatever  kind,  foreign  as  well  as  civic,  is  suicidal  as  well 
as  murderous.  It  is  as  though  the  members  should 
again  revolt  against  the  belly,  or  the  foot  should  kick 


I  8  DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 

against  the  nose,  or  the  right  hand  amputate  the  left. 
In  fact,  it  is  war  which  is  the  real  stupidity  ;  it  is  peace 
which  is  the  real  sagacity.  The  time  is  fast  passing 
by  when  thoughtful  men  will  any  longer  cherish  the 
sentimental  tradition  and  barbarous  fancy  that  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  national  honor  or  international  right  can  really 
be  settled  by  an  appeal  to  gunnery,  however  elaborate. 
If  we  were  materialists,  and  really  believed  that  the 
national  honor  is  a  matter  of  molecular  bulk — say  a 
hundred  cubic  feet,  or  of  molecular  weight — say  a 
hundred  tons,  then  we  might  with  some  consistency 
undertake  to  defend  the  national  honor  by  a  molecular 
appeal  to  bayonets  and  bombs.  In  fact,  molecular 
force  is  the  brute’s  standard  of  ethics.  As  good 
Isaac  Watts,  in  lines  probably  more  remarkable  for 
accuracy  of  observation  than  for  accuracy  of  theology, 
naively  sings  : 

Let  dogs  delight  to  bark  and  bite, 

For  God  hath  made  them  so  ; 

Let  bears  and  lions  growl  and  fight, 

For  ’tis  their  nature,  too. 

—  Watts'  “ Divine  Songs,"  16. 

But  if  we  believe  that  honor  and  right  and  truth 
are  in  their  nature  spiritual,  not  molecular,  let  us  be 
consistent  and  maintain  them  by  spiritual  weapons, 
not  by  molecular. 

PROTEST  AGAINST  BOYS’  BRIGADES. 

Let  me  seize  the  opportunity  as  I  pass  on  to 
enter  a  protest  against  a  custom  which  I  conceive  to 
be  both  hurtful  and  vicious — namely,  the  “  Boys’ 
Brigades.”  So  far  as  the  drill  of  the  Boys’  Brigade 
tends  to  develop  muscle,  vigor,  erectness,  poise — in  a 
word,  manliness,  no  one  can  approve  it  more  heartily 
than  myself.  What  I  protest  against  is  not  the  mili¬ 
tary  discipline,  but  the  military  accoutrements,  par- 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


19 


ticularly  the  gun,  even  though  that  gun  be  wooden. 

I  do  not  believe  in  fostering  in  our  boys  a  martial  or 
a  fighting  spirit.  What  blinds  us  to  the  cruel  wicked¬ 
ness  of  war  is  the  brilliant  appeal  it  addresses  to  the 
eye  and  the  ear,  “the  plumed  troop,  the  neighing 
steed,  the  shrill  trump,  the  spirit-stirring  drum,  the 
ear-piercing  fife,  the  royal  banner,  pride,  pomp,  and 
circumstance  of  glorious  war.”  If  our  boys  must 
shoulder  an  arm  in  addition  to  their  natural  arms,  let 
it  not  be  a  gun,  symbol  of  cruel  destruction,  but  let 
it  be  some  symbol  of  useful  construction,  a  broom,  a 
hoe,  an  oar,  a  rake,  a  sledge,  a  spade,  anything  that 
will  help  society  instead  of  harming  it ;  thus  literally 
beating  swords  into  plowshares,  spears  into  pruning- 
hooks,  the  nations  learning  war  no  more. 

DIVINE  SUMMONS  TO  AMERICAN  DISARMAMENT. 

Here  then  I  take  my  stand  as  a  Christian  Soci¬ 
ologist.  Solemnly  believing  that  the  policy  of  my 
Divine  Master  is  a  policy  of  peace,  I  as  solemnly 
believe  that  my  Divine  Master  is  summoning  earth’s 
nations  to  a  policy  of  disarmament.1  How  they  shall 
effect  this  disarmament,  whether  suddenly  or  grad¬ 
ually,  whether  separately  or  simultaneously,  I  do  not 
presume  to  assert.  But  I  do  presume  to  assert  unhesi¬ 
tatingly  and  unqualifiedly,  that  the  time  has  come 
when  the  nations  should  commit  themselves  openly 
to  the  policy  of  disarmament.  I  remember,  indeed, 
that  George  Washington  declared  before  Congress, 
Jan.  8,  1790,  that  “to  be  prepared  for  war  is  one  of 
the  most  effectual  means  of  preserving  peace.”  Allow 
me  however  to  submit,  as  I  do  humbly,  whether  in 
this  late  age  of  Christendom  the  converse  of  Wash¬ 
ington’s  maxim  is  not  even  truer :  To  prepare  for 

1  The  writer  took  this  stand  in  a  public  meeting  in  Washington.  March  4,  1890, 
(see  Prefatory  Note  to  this  pamphlet),  eight  years  before  the  Czar  proposed  his 
international  conference  for  considering  the  policy  of  reducing  armaments. 


20 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


peace  by  disarmament  is  the  most  effectual  means  of 
preventing  war.  Nor  is  this  suggestion  novel ;  so 
long  ago  as  1798,  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  a  signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  proposed  the 
establishment  of  a  Department  of  Peace  at  Washing¬ 
ton,  which  should  be  coordinate  with  the  Departments 
of  the  Army  and  Navy.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  com¬ 
plexity  and  gravity  of  the  problem.  I  still  believe 
that  we  need  a  body  of  armed  men  who  shall  serve, 
if  you  please,  as  our  national  police  on  land  and  sea. 
But  let  us  be  peacefully  content  with  calling  it  our 
police  department  instead  of  vaunting  it  as  our 
military  armament,  ready  to  accept  and  if  need  be 
offer  martial  challenge.  Of  course  you  will  call  me 
an  idealist.  But  ideals  have  ever  been  the  uplifting 
forces  for  mankind.  The  visionary  of  to-day  is  the 
conqueror  of  to-morrow. 

America’s  great  opportunity. 

Meanwhile,  if  I  had  the  ear  of  my  beloved  country, 
I  would  venture  to  offer  so  much  as  this  :  Let  our 
American  nation  propose  to  our  brother  nations  to 
disarm  ;  substituting  arbitration,  or  some  other  pacific 
policy,  for  armament.  I  feel  sure  that  all  of  us, 
whether  Republicans  or  Democrats,  whether  natives 
or  immigrants,  will  agree  that  if  there  is  on  earth  a 
nation  that  can  afford  to  disarm  and  be  known  as  the 
great  peace  people,  it  is  the  American  nation,  for  our 
fortunes  do  not  vibrate  in  the  oscillating  balance  of 
European  powers.  We  are  strong  enough,  and  ought 
to  be  brave  enough,  to  say  to  our  brother  nations  of 
mankind  : 

We  believe  that  war  is  a  foolish,  antiquated,  wicked  policy. 
Let  us  disarm,  referring  our  disputes,  not  to  the  bloody 
decisions  of  capricious  war,  but  to  the  peaceful  arbitrament  of 
Christian  common  sense.  Let  us  enter  into  a  covenant  of 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


21 


everlasting  amity  ;  organizing  a  peace-league  that  shall  be  not 
only  Pan-American,  but  also  Pan-Human.  We  Americans 
take  the  initiative  in  inviting  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  to 
meet  with  us  in  that  greatest  of  Congresses — “the  parlia¬ 
ment  OF  MAN,  THE  FEDERATION  OF  THE  WORLD.” 

DISARMAMENT  PRACTICABLE. 

Nor  is  this  by  any  means  so  impracticable  as  you 
imagine.  For  example :  The  Geneva  Arbitration 
alone  has  done  wonders  in  shedding  light  on  the  feasi¬ 
bility  and  duty  of  disarmament :  for  it  has  shown 
mankind  how  war  may  be  averted,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  national  honor  be  kept  unstained.  Within 
our  own  century  there  have  been  nearly  a  hundred 
cases  of  successful  international  arbitration,  to  nearly 
one-half  of  which,  I  am  proud  to  state,  the  United 
States  has  been  a  party.  Do  you  say  that  our 
Master’s  precept  of  non-resistance  is  visionary  ?  The 
pacific  policy  of  William  Penn,  founder  of  the  great 
Commonwealth  which  bears  his  own  friendly  name, 
fighting  barbarous  aborgines  with  no  sword  but  the 
olive  branch — this  is  my  sufficient  answer.  Talk  about 
Utopia  ?  Bravely  obey  Jesus  Christ,  and  Utopia, 
ideal  land  of  Nowhere,  becomes  Pantopia,  actual  land 
of  Everywhere. 

TRIBUTE  TO  WILLIAM  PENN. 

And  here  I  halt  for  a  moment  to  offer  my  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  one  of  the  exalted  characters  in  human 
history.  Not  that  William  Penn  was  faultless — far 
from  it ;  he  was  but  a  human  being,  and  therefore  had 
his  own  share  of  human  defects  and  infirmities.  Never¬ 
theless,  God  gave  him  a  great  distinctive  mission  to 
accomplish  ;  and  gloriously  did  Penn  accomplish  it. 
That  great  distinctive  mission  in  rough  outline  was 
this  :  To  found  under  guidance  of  the  Inner  Light 
in  this  western  hemisphere  a  Christian  Commonwealth 


22 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


on  the  basis  and  in  the  spirit  and  for  the  purpose  of 
Human  Brotherhood.  This,  of  course,  involved  such 
fundamental  principles  as  the  following:  Unity  of 
Mankind  ;  equal  rights  ;  abolition  of  primogeniture  ; 
separation  of  Church  and  State ;  freedom  of  con¬ 
science ;  justice  to  the  aborigines;  universal  peace. 
These  majestic  principles  were  almost  novel  in  Penn’s 
own  day,  proving  him  to  have  a  prophet’s  inspiration. 
Nor  can  I  do  better  here  than  to  quote  the  words  of 
America’s  noble  historian,  George  Bancroft : 

This  is  the  praise  of  William  Penn,  that  in  an  age  which 
had  seen  a  popular  revolution  shipwreck  popular  liberty 
among  selfish  factions,  which  had  seen  Hugh  Peters  and 
Henry  Vane  perish  by  the  hangman’s  cord  and  the  axe  ;  in  an 
age  when  Sidney  nourished  the  pride  of  patriotism  rather  than 
the  sentiment  of  philanthropy,  when  Russell  stood  for  the 
liberties  of  his  order,  and  not  for  new  enfranchisement ;  when 
Harrington  and  Shaftesbury  and  Locke  thought  that  govern¬ 
ment  should  rest  on  property,  Penn  did  not  despair  of 
humanity,  and,  though  all  history  and  experience  denied  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people,  dared  to  cherish  the  noble  idea  of 
man’s  capacity  for  self-government.  Conscious  that  there 
was  no  room  for  its  exercise  in  England,  the  pure  enthusiast, 
like  Calvin  and  Descartes,  a  voluntary  exile,  was  come  to  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware  to  institute  “The  Holy  Experi¬ 
ment.”  —Bancroft' s  "History  of  the  United  States,"  Vo/.  //., 
PP-  379>  3$o. 


ELM  OF  SHACKAMAXON. 

And  majestic  has  been  the  success  of  “  The  Holy 
Experiment.”  There  have  been  other  historic  land¬ 
ings  :  the  landing  of  Julius  Caesar  on  the  coast  of 
Britain  ;  of  Hengist  and  Horsa  on  the  isle  of  Thanet ; 
of  William  the  Conqueror  on  the  field  of  Hastings  ;  of 
Cortez  in  the  harbor  of  Vera  Cruz  ;  of  Pizarro  in  the 
bay  of  St.  Matthew  ;  these  landed  with  shout  and 
spear  and  battle-axe,  to  found  empires  of  force  and 
hate  and  greed.  But  William  Penn  landed  at  the 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


23 


mouth  of  Dock  Creek  with  no  force  but  that  of  the 
In’ner  Light,  to  found  a  republic  in  the  name  of  God 
and  for  the  weal  of  man.  Perhaps  the  most  char¬ 
acteristic  scene  in  his  career,  forming  one  of  the 
brightest  pages*  in  American  and  even  human  history, 
was  when  he  stood  unarmed  under  the  great  elm  of 
Shackamaxon,  with  the  sun  and  the  river  and  the 
forest  and  the  Inner  Light  for  witnesses,  and  said  to 
the  dusky  warriors  of  the  primeval  wilds  : 

“We  are  met  on  the  broad  pathway  of  good  faith  and 
good  will ;  no  advantage  shall  be  taken  on  either  side,  but 
all  shall  be  openness  and  love  ;  I  will  not  call  you  children, 
for  parents  sometimes  chide  their  children  too  severely  ;  nor 
brothers  only,  for  brothers  differ  ;  the  friendship  between  me 
and  you  I  will  not  compare  to  a  chain,  for  that  the  rains 
might  rust,  or  the  falling  tree  might  break  ;  we  are  the  same 
as  if  one  man’s  body  were  to  be  divided  into  two  parts  ;  we 
are  all  one  flesh  and  blood.” 

And  the  dusky  warriors  of  the  primeval  wilds, 
overcome  by  this  evangel  of  peace,  gave  to  him  in 
token  of  their  hearty  friendship  the  belt  of  wampum, 
saying : 

“  We  will  live  in  love  with  William  Penn  and  his  children 
as  long  as  the  moon  and  stars  shall  endure.” 

This  is  the  memorable  scene  to  which  the  scoffing 
Voltaire  refers  when  he  says:  “ This  was  the  only 
treaty  between  these  people  and  the  Christians  which 
was  not  ratified  by  an  oath,  and  which  was  never 
broken."  For  more  than  seventy  years,  so  long  as 
the  Society  of  Friends  administered  the  government 
of  Pennsylvania,  the  covenant  of  peace  beneath  the 
elm  of  Shackamaxon  was  never  broken  ;  the  blood 
of  not  a  single  Quaker  was  ever  shed  by  an  Indian. 
“Aye,  peace  hath  her  victories  no  less  renowned  than 
war.” 


24 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


There  is  a  story  told 

In  Eastern  tents,  when  autumn  nights  grow  cold, 

And  round  the  fire  the  Mongol  shepherds  sit 
With  grave  responses  listening  unto  it  ; 

Once,  on  the  errands  of  his  mercy  bent, 

Buddha,  the  holy  and  benevolent, 

Met  a  fell  monster,  huge  and  fierce  of  look, 

Whose  awful  voice  the  hills  and  forests  shook. 

“  O  son  of  peace  !  ”  the  giant  cried,  “  thy  fate 
Is  sealed  at  last,  and  love  shall  yield  to  hate.” 

The  unarmed  Buddha  looking,  with  no  trace 
Of  fear  or  anger,  in  the  monster’s  face, 

In  pity  said  :  “  Poor  friend,  even  thee  I  love.” 

Lo  !  as  he  spake  the  sky-tall  terror  sank 
To  hand-breadth  size  ;  the  huge  abhorrence  shrank 
Into  the  form  and  fashion  of  a  dove  ; 

And  where  the  thunder  of  its  rage  was  heard, 

Circling  above  him  sweetly  sang  the  bird  : 

“  Hate  hath  no  harm  for  love,”  so  ran  the  song  ; 

“  And  peace  unweaponed  conquers  every  wrong  !  ” 

— J.  G.  Whittier  s  ‘  ‘  Disarmament. 

SUMMARY. 

Here  I  rest  my  argument.  I  might,  of  course, 
have  descanted  on  the  wastefulness  of  war — its  fright¬ 
ful  waste  of  money,  of  time,  of  strength,  of  health, 
of  capacity,  of  love,  of  joy,  of  morals — in  one  great 
word — of  life.  Never  producing,  forever  consuming, 
war  is  the  very  genius  of  that  monstrous,  pitiless, 
ghastly  fugitive  from  the  infernal  abyss,  whose 
name  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  is  Abaddon ;  in  the 
Greek,  Apollyon  ;  in  the  English,  Destroyer.  Eng¬ 
land’s  Iron  Duke,  “foremost  captain  of  his  time,” 
never  said  a  truer  or  sadder  thing  than  in  his  dispatch 
from  the  red  field  of  Waterloo  :  “  Nothing  except  a 
battle  lost  can  be  half  so  melancholy  as  a  battle  won.” 
Our  own  brilliant  Sherman  exclaimed :  “  War  is 

hell !  ”  But  while  such  considerations  as  these  might 
perhaps  have  been  more  thrilling,  I  have  chosen  to 
take  higher  ground,  appealing  to  a  loftier  principle. 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


25 


That  loftier  principle  is  this  :  The  divine  conception 
of  all  mankind  as  constituting  one  vast,  many- 
membered  moral  body,  one  colossal  corporate 
Organism.  In  this  majestic  conception  lies  the 
secret  of  the  reconciliation  of  the  great  schism 
or  dismemberment  in  the  one  body  of  Mankind. 
The  cure  of  war  lies  not  in  the  suspicion  and  enmity 
and  rivalry  that  are  entrenched  in  armaments ; 
the  cure  of  war  lies  in  the  confidence  and  brother¬ 
hood  and  cooperation  that  are  announced  in 
disarmament.  For  in  what  proportion  Mankind  feels 
itself  to  be  what  its  Maker  and  Lord  meant  it  should 
be,  namely,  one  organic  person  rather  than  a  congeries 
of  organized  structures — in  that  proportion  race  strifes 
will  cease,  nation  saying  to  nation,  “We  are  members 
one  of  another.” 

THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  LAMB. 

Trust  not  then  in  man,  nor  put  your  confidence  in 
princes.  From  the  battlefields  of  warriors,  with  their 
garments  rolled  in  blood,  from  cabinet  and  forum, 
soar  into  that  purer,  diviner  realm  where  the  ambas¬ 
sadors  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  hold  high  court.  Ah, 
here  is  the  secret  of  the  world’s  true  reconciliation 
and  immortal  amity.  What  no  earthly  force — military, 
legislative,  judicial,  executive,  international,  academic, 
aesthetic — ever  has  been  able  to  accomplish,  or  ever 
can  accomplish,  the  Church  of  the  Lamb  of  God, 
without  staff  or  force  or  sword,  can  and  will,  with  the 
blessing  of  her  pacific  Chief,  serenely  achieve.  March¬ 
ing  under  his  peaceful  labarum  of  the  cross  and  dove 
and  lamb  and  olive,  repeating  his  precepts,  breathing 
his  spirit,  reproducing  his  graces,  feeling  and  manifest¬ 
ing  in  daily  life  his  manifold  loves,  the  Church  of  the 
Beatitudes  will  yet  girdle  earth,  with  the  shining  zone 
of  love  ;  and  then — 


2  6 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


Shall  all  men’s  good 
Be  each  man’s  rule,  and  universal  peace 
Lie  like  a  shaft  of  light  across  the  land, 

And  like  a  lane  of  beams  athwart  the  sea, 

Thro’  all  the  circle  of  the  golden  year. 

—  Tennyson ’  s  *  ‘  Golden  Year.  ’  ’  / 


THE  TRANSFIGURED  MENAGERIE. 


Then  shall  be  realized  the  prophet-evangelist’s 
vision  of  the  transfigured  menagerie  : 

The  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb, 

And  the  leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid  ; 

And  the  calf  and  the  young  lion  and  the  fading  together  ; 

And  a  little  child  shall  lead  them. 

And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall  feed  ; 

Their  young  ones  shall  lie  down  together  : 

And  the  lion  shall  eat  straw  like  the  ox. 

And  the  sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp, 

And  the  weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand  on  the  adder’s  den. 

— Isaiah ,  xi.,  6-8. 

For  it  must  be  confessed  that  mankind  is  at  present 
a  heterogeneous,  jarring  humanity.  Behold  the  wars 
of  races,  the  feuds  of  clans,  the  conflicts  of  classes, 
the  campaigns  of  parties,  the  rivalries  of  trades,  the 
collisions  of  schools,  the  broils  of  cliques,  the  crusades 
of  sects,  even  the  ruptures  of  friendships.  Whenever 
the  angels  look  down  from  their  peaceful  home  on 
this  discordant  world  of  ours,  I  think  it  must  seem  to 
them  an  unleashed,  ever  quarreling  menagerie.  But 
this  shall  not  be  so  always.  The  Babe  of  Bethlehem 
is  the  true  usherer  in  of  that  Golden  Age  concerning 
which  philosophers  have  idealized,  for  which  poets 
have  sighed.  He  it  is  who  makes  wars  to  cease  to 
the  end  of  the  earth,  who  breaks  the  bow,  who  cuts 
the  spear  in  sunder,  who  burns  the  chariots  in  the  fire. 
In  his  days,  when  he  shall  come  in  the  sway  of  his 
glorious  Palingenesis,  the  wolf  of  war  will  indeed 
dwell  with  the  lamb  of  peace ;  the  leopard  of  hate 


DISARMAMENT  OF  NATIONS 


27 


will  lie  down  with  the  kid  of  love  ;  the  bear  of  raven¬ 
ing  will  feed  with  the  cow  of  serenity  ;  the  lion  of 
wrath  will  eat  straw  like  the  ox  of  patience ;  the 
sucking  child  of  the  Sunday-school  will  play  on  the 
hole  of  the  asp  of  danger ;  and  the  weaned  child  of 
the  Church  will  put  his  hand  on  the  basilisk’s  den  of 
wickedness.  Or,  to  translate  the  ancient  poetry  into 
modern  prose,  Mankind  will  become  in  very  truth  one 
vast  cooperative  Society,  pervaded  by  one  esprit  de 
corps.  In  briefest  phrase,  men  will  be  organized  into 
Man. 

THE  CHILD-KING. 

And  observe  who  it  is  that  will  thus  re-organize  and 
imparadise  society.  It  is  not  an  angel,  not  a  warrior, 
not  a  philosopher,  not  even  a  priest.  It  is  the  Babe 
of  Bethlehem  :  “A  little  child  shall  lead  them.”  The 
Son  of  the  Manger  is  immortally  young.  From  the 
womb  of  the  morning  he  has  his  perennial  dew  of 
youth.  As  such,  he,  the  undying  Child,  is  taming 
the  wild,  growling,  gnashing  menagerie  of  mankind, 
slowly  but  surely  transfiguring  it  into  the  City  of  God. 
Be  it  for  us  all  to  share  in  the  beatitude  of  the  Infant 
— Ancient  of  Days.  Aye,  “  Blessed  are  the  peace¬ 
makers  :  for  they  shall  be  called  sons  of  God.” 

Down  the  dark  future,  through  long  generations, 

The  echoing  sounds  grew  fainter  and  then  cease  ; 

And  like  a  bell,  with  solemn,  sweet  vibrations, 

I  hear  once  more  the  voice  of  Christ  say,  “  Peace  !  ” 

Peace  !  and  no  longer  from  its  brazen  portals 

The  blast  of  War’s  great  organ  shakes  the  skies  ! 

But  beautiful  as  songs  of  the  immortals, 

The  holy  melodies  of  love  arise. 

— Longfellow' s  “ Arsenal  at  Springfield." 


/ 


Books  of  History  and  Genealogy 

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